


i only want to be the sun for you

by aryasbitch



Series: but you're a king and i'm a lion-heart [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Season/Series 01, Season/Series 01 AU, arya and tommen start s1 as about 14/15, as he should, myrcella and arya interact and are besties bc i said so, tommen drinks his respect arya stark juice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24243301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryasbitch/pseuds/aryasbitch
Summary: Tommen reaches forward to lay a hand on her side, fingers sinking into her grey fur almost immediately. The direwolf flops back as Tommen strokes her, half-heartedly snarling as the three kittens hiss at her movement. Arya pauses her story to shush Nymeria, before continuing on.“Darksister was her sword, and she would wear it into battle atop her dragon, Vhagar-” Tommen cannot help it as his gaze flits to Arya’s face once more. He could spend the rest of the days in the library, with just Arya and her stories.S1 AU where Arya and Tommen become friends, and possibly a bit more
Relationships: Myrcella Baratheon & Arya Stark, Tommen Baratheon & Arya Stark, Tommen Baratheon/Arya Stark
Series: but you're a king and i'm a lion-heart [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1749847
Kudos: 89





	i only want to be the sun for you

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [lavender's blue, lavender's green](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4000228) by [thegirl (orphan_account)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/thegirl). 



> some notes to keep in mind:  
> \- joffrey, mrycella, and tommen, are the actual children of robert rather than jaime in this, but they’re still blonde bc genetics are dumb  
> \- this au has everyone aged up by about three years, so when season one takes place arya and tommen are 14, sansa is 15, etc… also i made tommen and arya the same age because the plot revolves around their relationship  
> \- while it wouldn’t come into play until a few more installments in the fic anyways, the white walkers will not exist in this au because i just don’t want to focus on them being an enemy or an issue
> 
> title is from pinterest

Months before, when the Baratheon’s had first arrived in Winterfell, Arya remembers her eyes being drawn to the younger two of the three siblings. She knew the blonde girl, Myrcella, to be Sansa’s age, five and ten, with the boy, Tommen, being the same age as Arya, at four and ten. Arya had sought them out within a day, asking Tommen to spar with her while Myrcella had watched from the sidelines. 

Her friendships with the two Baratheon’s grew fast, and they were the only thing she really looked forward to when her father had told her she was going to King’s Landing with him and her sister.

In King's Landing, where the weather is hotter than Arya has ever experienced and she is given strange looks as she runs around covered in dirt with a direwolf by her side, she’s able to find comfort in the young Baratheons. 

Arya takes walks with Myrcella through the Red Keep, Myrcella helping Arya map out the castle and its many halls. In return, Arya teaches her to shoot a bow in closed corridors where no one can see. 

Arya and Tommen will sit in the library and read side by side, sharing lines and quotes from the stories in their laps. A month into her stay at Kings Landing, Arya tells the story of Visenya Targaryen to Tommen for what must be the third time that week. 

But, as always, he sits quietly and listens with rapt attention, mesmerized by her voice and hand motions. Tommen finds himself staring at her, enthralled, but his eyes snap to his lap when her gaze turns his way. 

He looks at Nymeria instead, the direwolf stretched out alongside them, and Tommen’s kittens crawling all over the wolf. Tommen had been frightened when he had first met the direwolf, but now barely blinks when she lays herself out beside them or as she now yawns, sharp teeth displayed and claws stretching out.

Tommen reaches forward to lay a hand on her side, fingers sinking into her grey fur almost immediately. The direwolf flops back as Tommen strokes her, half-heartedly snarling as the three kittens hiss at her movement. Arya pauses her story to shush Nymeria, before continuing on.

“Darksister was her sword, and she would wear it into battle atop her dragon, Vhagar-” Tommen cannot help it as his gaze flits to Arya’s face once more. He could spend the rest of the days in the library, with just Arya and her stories.

-

The sounds of wood colliding draw Tommen away from his walk down the halls of the Red Keep. He follows the sounds until he turns into a small room, one he’s never seen before. Inside, is Arya. 

Tommen’s breath falters at the sight of her, small beads of sweat on her face as she pivots and twirls with grace. A strand of hair is plastered to her face from the moisture, having fallen out of her updo, and in her hand is a wooden sword. 

She is sparring with her dancing master, who Tommen knows is named Syrio. Arya had told him and his sister of her training and had sworn them both to secrecy, but he hadn’t yet to witness her with her swordmaster.

Tommen wasn't aware it was possible for her to be as graceful as she is now.

Any sword fighting Tommen has seen has always been full of slashes and jarred movements, but this is nothing like that. Arya moves with the grace of a dancer, as if she is simply in the middle of a ball rather than a fight. 

Her movements are quick and sharp and full of twirls and spins amongst careful defensive slashes of her sword. Even as Syrio lands multiple blows and light taps to her figure, a wide grin is set on her face and she does not discourage from the dance. 

Syrio spots him before Arya does, and he steps back neatly, sword already being brought behind his back. Arya turns as Syrio stops, smile softening as she and Tommen lock eyes. Syrio nods to them both and strides past Arya in order to leave the way Tommen came, though Arya barely spares him a glance. 

The lack of goodbye is in no way rude on Arya’s part, simply familiar as she is used to Syrio’s swift entrances and departures.

“Tommen! What are you doing here?” Arya brings her still raised arm to her side, allowing the sword to rest comfortably against her leg. 

“I heard noises and wondered what they were.” He answers, cheeks warming as he continues, “You were incredible. I’ve never seen anyone move like that.”

Her smile resembles one of a cat as she processes his words, equal parts pleased and affectionate. “Would you like to try?”

Tommen pauses in question before he realizes she means for him to spar with her, and he shakes his head rapidly. “Oh, no, Lady Arya, I would be awful. I haven’t learned how to wield a sword.”

Arya rolls her eyes at the use of title, correcting him with an exasperated “It's just Arya,” but she does not push further on the idea of them sparring. She places the wooden weapons against the closest wall with gentle care instead and turns to him as she stands.

“Very well, Tommen. What were you doing before this for you to hear me training?”

“Walking. I was quite bored without you by my side, however.” Arya grins once more, walking forwards until they are side by side so they can exit the room together. “No one was there to annoy me or insult my brother, it was quite strange for it to be so silent.” 

Tommen sees her eyes widen in shock out of the corner of his eye. He has never insulted her, albeit playfully, and while they are both surprised Tommen hopes she can’t see his own shock mirrored on his face. He’s sure he’s blushing anyhow.

She lands a punch to his shoulder as a startled laugh escapes her lips, but she allows him to link their arms together as they continue to walk through the empty halls.

-

The next time Tommen sees Arya, it is when he visits her in her room in the Red Keep. She is seated upon her bed when he enters, the book in her lap no doubt about other Targaryen Queens in history. Nymeria is noticeably absent from her side. He had heard of Arya’s clash with Joffrey a few days prior, how her sister took his brother's side, and her wolf was killed when Nymeria was unable to be found. 

Tommen doesn't know where Arya’s direwolf is, but he can guess that Arya did whatever she needed to make sure she was safe from his mother and brother’s wrath.

She spares a glance his way before it returns to the book in her lap, although it flashes back to him when he seats himself at the end of the bed. Arya’s eyes flicker over him before landing on the arm half-hidden behind his back.

“What do you have in your hand?” The book is dropped to her side and her posture straightens as Tommen produces a dagger, stretching his arm out as if reaching out to her. Arya simply stares at it, and Tommen silently notes how it is one of the very few times he has seen her speechless.

The dagger is rather intricate, the metal made of Valyrian steel and its hilt made of Lannister gold. His father hadn’t spared him a glance when Tommen had asked for it, either not caring or too drunk to question why his youngest son wanted a dagger when he had never touched any other weapon in his life.

“It's yours, if you'd like it. I thought you might like something sharp by your side since Nymeria can't be here to attack someone. I was quite amused to hear of her attacking Joffrey, you know, especially after I learned that he had knocked you down. Of course, a dagger is nothing similar to a direwolf, but it's quite sharp like Nymerais teeth, and I know you’ll wield it as well as you do a bow or Needle-” He’s rambling, he knows he is, but he can't help how nervous Arya makes him. He wants her to accept the dagger and is unsure if she'll be upset at him bringing up the disappearance of her wolf or the cruelty of his brother.

Arya’s hand on his stops his babble, and Tommen pauses as he inhales sharply at the contact. Her fingers are rough from training with wooden swords and holding a bow, but her skin is warm as she takes the weapon from his outstretched grasp.

It is placed carefully beside Arya on the bed before she turns back to Tommen and throws herself at him, winding her arms around his shoulders tightly. She is so rarely physically affectionate with him, because she usually lacks the desire for it, and her sudden embrace knocks the breath out of him completely. 

Tommen’s arms wind around her waist, pulling her to him even more, and he breathes in. Her unbound hair, dark and spilling over her shoulders, smells of cool air and the woods. It’s as if she has brought the chill of Winterfell south with her, but her breath is warm against his ear and the rest of her body is just as warm from where it is pressed against him. 

When Arya pulls back, one hand coming to rest on his, he entwines their fingers without thought, frozen as her cheeks warm with blush. But she doesn't pull her hand from his, so he stays where he is. Arya’s voice cuts through the air, even being as soft as it is.

“Thank you.” She tilts her head in consideration. “I’ll call it Rhaenys, after-”

“Rhaenys Tagraeron, sister to Visenya and Aegon. I know.” Her fingers tighten from where they are clasped between them, and the soft smile on Tommen’s face matches the one she wears on hers.

-

It seems Tommen sees Arya everywhere after that day in her room. In the halls walking with Myrcella, practicing water dancing in dark corridors, even the dungeons where he spots her covered in dirt and chasing after a cat. 

And when he can't physically see her, she's in his thoughts. All he can think about is Arya: her laugh, her voice, her movements as she spars. Everything about her.

Tommen sits beside his family at meals and thinks of how he’d rather eat with her then listen to his mother baby Joffrey. When he looks at Myrcella he thinks of how Arya had become such fast friends with her, how she treated his sister with kindness and immediate affection. When he sees Sansa he thinks of how much he’d rather see Arya, no matter how sweet and soft-spoken her red-haired sister is.

Tommen sees Arya in everything, everywhere he goes. 

-

However, Tommen hasn't seen Arya much of later, especially not since his father’s death and her own being named a traitor. Upon learning he had been labeled as one, he had immediately gone to her in search of her. When she wasn't in her room, he had searched the room she would train in, the dungeons, even outside of the Red Keep. 

She was nowhere to be seen.

He asks Myrcella and Sansa, but neither girl has seen the brunette. The worry sets in when Tommen realizes he may never find her. 

_What if she ran away. What if she was taken. What if she was_ killed.

Tommen cuts his own train of thought off. He refuses to think of Arya as anything but alive and safe. Arya Stark is a wolf of the North, a Stark of Winterfell. She would not die in the South, in King's Landing no less. She is the strongest person Tommen knows, was the strongest all those months ago when they met and even more so now at five and ten. 

-

The day Tommen finds Arya is also the day her father dies. 

It's the day of Ned Stark’s trial, and Tommen stands with Myrcella behind Joffrey. His mother stands by his side, and Sansa Stark is at hers.

When Lord Stark is brought up to Joffrey, hands bound behind his back, Tommen hopes Arya isn't in the crowd to witness this. But his hope crumbles when he sees her anyways, stumbling forward amongst the masses as Joffrey calls for her father's head. Sansa is screaming as she is held captive by a guard, and Arya looks moments away from screaming as well.

She is at the edge of the crowd when a guard recognizes her to be a Stark, and he grabs her before she can run past him. A few feet in front of her father, Arya begins to shriek and sob in the guard's arms, clawing at him even as he visibly tightens his hold. Tommen moves forward, reaching for her but falters as a guard grabs him and holds him back.

“Let me go! Now!” His command is drowned out by the shouts of the crowd, and the screams of Arya.

“Stop it! Let me go, let me go! Stop!” Arya’s cries blend with her sisters, both girls trying and failing to save their father. When the sword is brought down upon Ned's head, Arya does not have enough time to look away before it slices through his neck.

She screams, the sound ripping out of her chest, louder than any other Tommen can hear, while tears drip down her face. Tommen moves again, struggling within his captor's arms as he reaches for her, wanting to grab her and take her away, hold her, kiss her, anything to stop her pain. _Anything_.

But he can’t, not while he is being held back by one of the guards. 

The guard is not fast enough to stop his sister, however, who breaks out of her frozen terror by Tommen’s side to rush towards Arya. Myrcella moves fast enough that the guards can't catch her as she runs down the stairs to Arya’s side, though Tommen thinks he sees Joffrey sneer in her direction. That fucking _bastard_. 

In that moment, Tommen would kill him for this. For being cruel, for being so heartless. For killing Ned Stark. For hurting Arya.

But he can't escape the continuous tight grasp of the guard, and so he doesn't kill him. Tommen can only watch as Myrcella reaches Arya's side, the guard behind Arya stepping back in shock as the Princess of the Seven Kingdoms pushes him away so she can grab at the Stark. The brunette utterly collapses in the blonde’s arms, head landing on her shoulder so she can sob into her neck. 

Joffrey finally notices her in the crowd, in his sister's embrace of all places, and calls out, “Bring the Stark bitch to her room in the Red Keep, and guard her room so she can't leave.”

Myrcella tightens her hold around Arya as guards surround them under the King's orders, circling the two girls. One guard grabs Arya, another Myrcella, pulling and separating the two. Tommen’s heart breaks a second time as Arya cries out a loud “No!” as Myrcella's hands are ripped from her hers and she is led towards the Red Keep.

Tommen's eyes are trained on Arya as she is dragged away, tears blurring his eyes as she continues to sob. He watches until she disappears from his view.

-

  
  


Hours later, when Lord Stark's body has been cleared and the Lannisters have returned to the Red Keep, his mother sits down beside Myrcella and Tommen while Joffrey paces the room.

“You are forbidden from seeing her! Both of you!” Joffrey practically spits at his siblings, and Myrcella clutches Tommen’s hand tighter beneath the table. Tommen turns his head to his mother as she lifts her cup of wine to her lips, and a new wave of fury washes over him as he sees her barely hidden smirk. “How dare you both try and comfort her. It’s bad enough you tried to reach for her, Tommen. But Myrcella, you fucking ran to her? She’s a traitor!” 

“No, she isn't! Arya didn't do anything wrong!” Myrcella's voice is stronger than Tommen thinks he's ever heard it. A year ago, he would think her insane for raising her voice at Joffrey, the King of the Seven Kingdoms. But now, he knows that she has learned from Arya to not sit back and just listen. Both Tommen and Myrcella are stronger because of Arya.

Their mother nearly chokes on her wine at her daughter's words, and Joffrey gapes at her. All he can say in response is, “How dare you?”

Everyone’s head but Myrcella’s swing to Tommen's as he scoffs at his brother's words, his sister's furious gaze still trained on the King. 

“You’ve made her a prisoner? Why? Because you're that afraid of her?” Tommen spits out the words as if they physically pain him. Then again, the thought of Arya confined to her room does make his heart clench in his chest. 

Joffrey gawks once more, as does his mother, neither having expected Tommen to speak back.

“How dare you speak to your King in such a way?” He doesn't even spare his mother a look. _Bitch_.

“I- No! But she is a traitor of the Seven Kingdoms! Just as her father was!” Tommen laughs at the tremble in his brother's voice, though it lacks any true humor. “And you are not to see her!”

“Will you kill me if I do?” Any stammering Joffrey was making cuts off, his mother's attempt at a retort halted in her throat. The room is silent, the guards positioned at the door sparing each other anxious glances. “As you did Ned Stark? Will you cut off my head if I visit her?” Tommen questions, eyes piercing and voice sharp. 

Joffrey can't make a proper response, back to stammering, and Tommen is tired of it. He pushes himself out of his chair, storming out of the room even as his mother reaches for him and calls his name. 

When he arrives at Arya’s room, he pushes past the guards at her door and enters her room without knocking. All prior anger dissipates at the sight of her. She is seated on her bed, hair down and legs crossed as she is hunched over, no doubt trying to make herself as small as possible. 

Her hand plays with the dagger he had gifted her, the blade twirling between her fingers as she stares down at it, tears continuing to spill down her cheeks even though she is silent in her grief.

Her gaze remains down until Tommen is beside her bed, and when her eyes meet his hesitantly he can see new tears forming fast in her eyes. A sob forms in her chest, and as it rips out of her mouth he does the only thing he can think of.

Tommen crushes her to his chest, arms tightening as the sobs grow. Her arms wrap around his midsection, pulling him against her as much as she can in her grief. Minutes pass with her in his arms, crying and wailing before she pulls away.

Arya leans back until she can stare him straight in the face, green meeting grey. Her voice is rough when she speaks, but with fury burning so bright Tommen feels goosebumps riding up his arms. 

“I want you to bring me Ilyn Payne’s head. I want him dead.”

Tommen only nods, and doesn't hesitate as he promises, “I will.” 

  
  



End file.
